Flexible retainer member for heat treatment trays



Jam, 31, 1939 H. H. HARRIS 2,145,253

FLEXIBLE RETAINER MEMBER FOR HEAT TREATMENT TRA YS Filed Se t. 1, 1957 20 Tuzrl, 2 45 42 go I INVENTOR Hag "1 1 H. Harm s ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 31, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLEXIBLE RETAINER MEMBER FOR HEAT TREATMENT TRAYS 12 Claims.

My invention relates to retainer members for confining articles on trays while being heat treated, and particularly to such retainer members which are made up of parts which are removably and flexibly connected together, and are at least in part of open work permitting free access of heat to work contained therein.

While articles can be carried through a furnace by being placed loosely on trays which are adapted, to be traveled, as by pushing through the furnace, the quantity of work which can be handled in this manner is limited, and some of the articles may fall off the tray and be injured or interfere with the furnace operation by getting in the way of moving parts.

By providing a retainer in the form of a box or ring having only side walls to be placed on the tray, the articles placed on the tray for heat treatment may be confined within such retainer, permitting an increased number of articles to be accommodated on each tray, and avoiding danger of any thereof falling therefrom and being injured or interfering with the operation of the furnace.

Among the objects of the invention is the provision of retainers for heat treatment trays, comprising flexible side wall members; the provision of side wall members for heat treatment trays which while being flexible yet retain substantially their original shape; and the making up of such side wall members of parts which are readily assembled or disassembled and which can be used to provide side wall retaining members adapted to be used with trays of various shapes and dimensions.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a tray provided with one form of retainer member having flexible walls of open work construction in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view partly broken away;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the retainer member, the tray and furnace rails being shown in section, and

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Reference character I0 is applied to designate the side walled retainer member generally, l2 shows. one form of tray with which the retainer member I!) can be associated, and trays l2 may be traveled through the furnace in any desired Way, as by trays in advance being pushed along from behind as new trays are introduced into the furnace, or in other ways.

Tray 12 is shown with flanges M on its ends only but any desired form of tray may be used and may be supported in the furnace upon any desired support, the tray I2 being illustrated for simplicity of showing as a skid tray to move on skid tracks l6.

Retainer members, trays and rails are made of heat and corrosion resisting alloy, preferably iron, chromium and nickel alloy.

My retainer wall members while flexible are preferably so constructed as to substantially maintain their original shape or formation. Thus for use with the rectangular tray I2 taken for an illustrative example, I preferably provide a generally rectangular retaining member H] which, while flexible, is capable of maintaining its generally rectangular formation.

In producing the generally rectangular form of retaining wall member shown in the drawing, I provide four preferably cast corner members or posts 20, 2B which can be rounded as indicated at 22 to provide somewhat rounded corners for the wall of the fence-like retainer structure It.

'Where the corner members 20 are relatively close together, as at the ends of a rectangular retainer, I may provide a single link-like or other connector or wall forming member flexibly secured at each end tothe adjacent corner pieces. In the drawing I have illustrated a lattice link member 24 comprising crossing oppositely angulated slat or bar portions 26 with intervening open spaces 28, and terminating in horizontal 0 end portions 30 so as to form a flat open work link structure of continuous substantially spiral or coil-like formation.

For convenient flexible connection of open link members 24 with corner posts 20, said corner posts it may be provided with spaced-apart eye-containing lug portions 32 arranged to receive therebetween the open-end parts 38 of link members 24, and the flexible connection made by passing pins 34 through the eyes of eye-lugs 32 and also through the open ends 30 of link members 24. The openings 3E3 in link member 24 are preferably made sufficiently large to provide material clearance about pins 3% so that the connection is one having considerable flexibility.

For longer walls, as, for example, for side walls of rectangular retainer members, I preferably connect up two or more sets of link members Ml, but I preferably do so in such a way that the general original outline, in the illustrated case the rectangular outline, is maintained.

In the form shown I have illustrated side walls comprised of two such sets of link members 40.

To provide a comparatively long flexible side wall which, however, cannot get excessively out of line, I have shown the corner posts 20 provided at the side of the retainer with elongated lugs 42 each containing a pair of eyes or holes 44, 44, and have formed the open link members 40 with elongated horizontal extensions 46 which are adapted to be inserted between said lugs 42, and links 49 thereby held in general line with lugs 42 by means of two pins 48, 48 placed side by side in the holes 44, 44, and also passing through the open space in the link members 40. With this or equivalent arrangements which may be resorted to, the side-wall-forming links 40 are held in position with respect to the corner posts so as to form side wall members of the fence-like retainer member Ill, but at the same time the connection is flexible and can yield to accommodate the articles which are to be retained on the tray without undue restraint or injury thereto.

For interconnecting the links 40 making up the side wall, I also preferably provide an arrangement which keeps the links 40 generally in line but has a considerable range of flexibility. In the form shown the pair of side link members 40, 40 are interlaced by means of straight extension parts 49 and the pin 56 inserted therethrough is formed so as to limit the hinging movement of one link with respect to. the other while at the same time making a flexible connection therebetween, as for example pin 56 may be of H-shaped crosssection with its elongated cross-bar 54 arranged parallel to the general direction of the side wall links 40.

Pin 50 may have a head if desired, but conveniently a cotter pin 56 serves in place of a head to limit the extent of insertion of pin 50.

The retainer walls being made up of openwork parts gives free access of heat to the interior and to articles contained therein.

As will be seen the pins are all readily removable so that parts described can be shipped knockdown and readily disassembled and reassembled. The relation of parts which has been described is a desirable one but the relations therebetween may be varied in numerous ways, as two end links may be used instead of one, or three side links may be used instead of two, etc, in order to adapt the wall members for use with trays of various shapes and dimensions. Reassembly is facilitated by the several corner pieces, the several end link pieces, and the several side link pieces being made alike and interchangeable.

I claim:

1. Retainer wall member of openwork construction for use with heat treatment trays made up in part of rigid portions, and in part of flexible portions flexibly connected together but adapted to retain generally the original configuration.

2. A retainer wall member for use with heat treatment trays comprising a plurality of rigid portions of openwork formation, and a plurality of flexible portions also of openwork formation, said portions being alternately and flexibly connected together.

3. Retainer wall member for use with heat treatment trays comprising rigid, self-sustaining corner pieces and openwork wall members flexibly connecting the corner pieces.

4. A retainer wall member for use with heat treatment trays comprising rigid, self-sustaining corner pieces forming parts of the side walls of said member, and openwork wall members forming the remainder of the side walls flexibly connecting the corner pieces.

5. Retainer wall member for use with heat treatment trays comprising rigid and self-sustaining corner pieces and open work link members interlocking with and flexibly pinned to the corner pieces whereby the openwork members may shift relative to the corner pieces.

6. Retainer wall member for use with heat treatment trays comprising corner pieces provided with separated perforate lugs, pins received in the lugs, and openwork link members encircling the pins between the lugs and flexibly connecting the corner pieces together.

'7. Retainer wall member as in claim 6, in which the corner pieces form parts of the side wall portions of the member.

8. Retainer wall member for use with heat treatment trays comprising corner pieces with openwork link members flexibly connected therebetween at the ends, and with a plurality of openwork link members at the sides of the retainer flexibly connected with the corner pieces and with one another.

9. A retainer wall member for heat treatment trays comprising a set of corner pieces and a set of openwork links, the corner pieces and links being removably connected together by pins being passed through openings provided in the corner pieces and through the open spaces within the links.

10. A retainer wall member for use with heat treatment trays comprising openwork links intermeshing with one another at their meeting ends and a pin member with flat side walls inserted through the intermeshing ends of the links whereby they are flexibly held in substantial alignment.

11. A retainer Wall member for use with heat treatment trays comprising a plurality of openwork links intermeshing with one another at their meeting ends, certain of said openwork links being rigid and self-sustaining, and a pin member passing through the intermeshed ends of the links to flexibly secure same in substantial alignment.

12. A retainer wall member for use with heat 

